I was really disapointed with the Vectrix today. I have been having a real problem with battery temps during charging. I have resorted to using a timer to charge late at night after the batteries cooled down. Moved the scooter to an air-conditioned space for charging and still seeing temps of 45-46 C at the end of charge. Way too hot! I removed the seat today and found a bunch of problems caused most likely from the idiot who did the battery recall. This scooter was recalled when new and was repaired before I purchased it. First, I found the Vectrix tool kit under the seat---a 2" wide scrapper left there by the "technician" In addition, the bolts on the battery cover were overtightened, bending the washers and deforming the cover. There was a rubber plug that two cables pass through into the battery that was missing. I found that and a bolt and washer from the battery cover in the lower cowl. There is a hole punched into one of the thin plastic covers that surround the battery. Worst of all, there is a connector on the top of the battery with nothing plugged into it. I had to remove the side cover to fix the rubber plug and remove the bolt and washer which was stuck out of reach. At that point I found a wire and connector with a plug that would mate to the connector on top of the battery. It was labeled "battery cooling fans"--I think I found the battery overheating problem. The plug and connector had two green magic marker stripes that matched, so it was connected at one time and inspected. I plugged in the connector, plugged in the charger and for the first time heard the cooling fans run. I have never heard another Vectrix on charge or even run, so I had no idea that this scooter for the entire 500 miles I have driven it never had any battery or electronics cooling at all. I am really concerned what these high temps might have done to the life of the batteries and other electroincs cooled by the same fans.
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That is shocking! Well unfortunately it is not really that shocking these days :(
I have no faith in other people repairing my vehicles - I service my car myself after a main dealer overfilled the oil and overtightened the plasic oil filler cover
My ICE motorcycle had two loose spark plugs and they did not connect the fuel pipe from the tank properly, causing a bit of fuel seepage to drip onto the engine!! And that was an official Yamaha dealer - never again.
Unfortunately, like most of you on here, I am at the whim of the Vectrix repair people as I am afriad of losing my warranty - plus I am also worried about working on EV's as I am not trained or experienced with working on high voltage electrics. I just hope the local UK repair centre takes as much care and attention as I would if they need to perform any work on it.
Wow, almost as good as the series of screwed up (as in over-torqued) motor controller boards in Australia!
That connector which was not connected after the rework is the one where I connected the ABCool 12V power supply .
A 12V DC supply connected there will give you additional battery cooling at will!
I had my reasons when I did not let "Xxxxx" touch my Vectux again! (Details here.)
Some people with two left hands got onto the Vectrix dealership wagon - but as BigTony put it so aptly: "You cannot bullshit your way out of technical problems!"
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The battery temp of 46°C was reached because the Vectrix stops charging when the battery temp reaches that value. It then tries to cool the batteries by fanning for 15min, but in your case that was of course futile, because the fans could not run. The Vectrix electronics do not sense this, as I described earlier:
The charger starts and runs apparently normally when the battery cooling fan connector is disconnected and the fans do not run. The charger fan under the front fairing still runs but is much quieter then the battery cooling fans. A switch could easily be installed to turn the battery cooling fans off when not needed in really cool or cold climates. A much better option would be to turn the fans off via the CanBus when the temperature is low enough - a project for later on!
I have not tested this for more than a few minutes - watch it like a hawk for at least one full charging cycle if you decide to use the 30sec procedure to disconnect the battery cooling fans.....
It looks like you have involuntarily tested this for 800km = about 20 charges!
The motor controller board is co-located inside the housing with the battery, but it has it's own powerful fan which hopefully is running on your Vectrix when the GO symbol is on. It is the fan with variable speed. Damage to the "riding" part of the motor controller as a result of disconnected battery housing fans is therefor unlikely; but the charging current also goes through the motor controller, and the lack of air flow during charging might be worse for the parts involved in recharging because the big motor controller fan is off during charging.
IMO the risk of this is low, because during regen breaking up to about 13times the current goes into the battery as during the CP charge cycle. For much shorter times though, of course.
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!